Leon Day 2

Wow, it's the first day in a while that I have felt like doing anything but rest! We went out and did our morning chores (taking trash to dumpster site, going to the grocery store) and then had an early lunch of our remaining chicken noodle soup before setting out.

Our first stop was San Isadora, which is a very old church where many kings and queens are buried. Leon was a hot spot of Spanish rulers in the late 900s to early 1300s, and many were crowned or interred at San Isadora. The church still has an active congregation and is open for prayer daily, too. There is an attached museum, but they were closing for siesta, so we'll go back another day. The church is built into the city wall, which is 2 meters thick in that section.

Then we walked to the San Marcos Monastery, which is now a luxury Paradore-brand Hotel. I checked, and rooms were between $350 and $450 per night this week for Easter. We had a coffee there and took photos. San Marcos was built as a pilgrim hospital and a place where military order knights were stationed to protect pilgrims on the Camino. There are many legends about St James or Santiago as he is known in Spain. One is that he appeared on a white horse in one of the many battles against the Moors and cut them down, and trampled them. This image is above the door at San Marcos.

We saw another one of our pilgrims from Grañón at the hotel. He was from California and had booked lunch there since it was too expensive for an overnight. This hotel was part of the movie The Way, so lots of people stop here for photos.

We walked around a bit more and scoped out our area a bit before returning to the apartment. Tomorrow, we hope to see some of the museums.Read more